AARP Rewards Online Community Empty Nest Contest 2025

Since retiring then moving to Portland Oregon in 2020, I have found a community through volunteering with various programs of Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) - Aging Well, Ambassador Council, Community Advisory Board, Esther’s Food Pantry, and Camp KC, along with other temporary needs and events for this amazing nonprofit organization serving the HIV & LGBTQ+ communities in the Portland area for 40+ years. 

As a client and volunteer I have felt welcomed, needed, and celebrated for who I am. 

Gene Bishop

We went on our very first cruise!

No kids means time for wine tours

More time to travel & see the world

an empty nest has allowed us to travel and make those trips longer to places that have been on our bucket list for some time. But, to be honest, we do sometimes miss 

them and are happy to see them, as long as it’s a SHORT visit!

 I am smart, I never had any children and never regretted for one second.  I may feel discriminated against for being smart by entering this contest!

We have been traveling the world as if there is no care in the world from Antarctica to the Arctic and beyond......

When the last of the kids left for college, the house felt cavernous. The echoes of slammed doors, late-night laughter, and even the occasional argument had been replaced with silence. At first, the quiet was unbearable.

I started to notice my wife more, as the girl I fell in love with so many years ago. We started taking after dinner walks, cooking meals together, we even signed up for a dancing class. We took road trips, and visited friends and relatives we hadn't seen in years.

We slowly started to realize that the empty nest was not the end of something, it was the beginning of our new adventure together.

As a divorced person without children, I have always experienced the joys of being able to set my own priorities for spending time on weekends.  After retirement, my freedom expanded and I embarked on new, exciting projects.  I love being able to socialize with friends spontaneously, throw myself into one of my hobbies with abandon, and just spend time meditating and relaxing.  Life is blissful.  

It's been a year now and the house sure is quiet! Both kids moved out of state but we look forward to traveling for many visits and my even relocate ourselves sine we no longer have any family left here!